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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26089393">Faster Than That in Which We Consume</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Webtrinsic/pseuds/Webtrinsic'>Webtrinsic</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>DCU, DCU (Comics), Justice League - All Media Types, The Flash - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety, Barry Allen Needs a Hug, Child Abuse, Eating Disorders, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Foster Care, Hallucinations, Hurt Barry Allen, Past Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Bruce Wayne, Seizures, Starvation, Trauma, Triggers, a little out of character</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:07:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,737</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26089393</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Webtrinsic/pseuds/Webtrinsic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry Allen grows up in a plethora of different foster homes that do nothing good for his relationship with food. That relationship vital when he gains superpowers that rely heavily on his calorie intake.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Barry Allen &amp; Bruce Wayne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>169</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Faster Than That in Which We Consume</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>IM ON A ROLL, also I'm I legit made a youtube playlist of the batman trailer so i could loop it and it hasn't been off of the loop since it came out because its what I'm using as background noise to write, also nolan verse is legit my fav batman but this new one is the only batman I've been able to actually picture stories in my head with. so yay</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“You know how boy’s are,” his dad would excuse while his mom giggled at the dinner table, watching with amusement as he ate, and ate, the food she worked so hard to make. To a young Barry not eating it was the closest thing to sacrilege his raving mind could think of.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her hands had been soft as they ran through his raven hair, and he continued to eat because he was a growing boy with a metabolism faster than a raging bull. It is when she is gone and there is no more food on the table made by her loving hands that he does not want to eat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Barry Allen will never have the pleasure of a home cooked meal again, because he no longer has a home and it is not one of his actual parents preparing the meal. In each new home he is sat in, if they are kind and have set the table, he still cannot eat because he sees her bloodied body lying on whoever’s table is in front of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He never stays in those homes because even though they are kind, they are not looking for a broken boy who cannot eat because he misses a family he is no longer a part of and with no desire to join their own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His has a father, one behind bars, one who is still breathing, that he is too young to go and visit. Even if he wails at the front desk to a cop who not only doesn’t care but is more annoyed he has to drive Barry back home to whatever home he is staying at that week.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Most foster homes he resides in figure if he will not eat then they will not feed him, so his already thin figure gets more and more gaunt and his clothes are nearly sliding off of him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is a girl there, seventeen years old and she pities him, pities him enough to hand him some peppermints, almonds, and a few packets of oatmeal before tailoring his clothes and explaining how to fix their sizing when he gets some of his weight back or if he loses more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The food she gives him comes from money in her own pockets, the strict instructions that he must hide the food from the other kids isn’t given lightly as she threads the needle and teaches him how to do the same. </span>
  <span>The foods will help quench his hunger, and it’s not so much or even anything close to special enough that he can consider it an actual meal meaning he does not see his dead mother when he eats.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Barry feels bad that he doesn’t get to tell her bye when he is relocated yet again, but he thinks she knew of his gratitude if his company and eagerness to learn from her meant anything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The foods do help keep him at bay, he stagnates when the abusive man he is sent to live with breaks his jaw and he is forced to eat smoothies through a straw. They’re clumpy and heavy in his gut and he wants to vomit but his clamped together teeth won’t allow it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Barry Allen has learned that the never ending pain in his stomach is okay, is deserved because his hopeful thoughts whisper his mom is cooking in the kitchen and he cannot spoil his appetite. He will eat when she is there setting her work in front of him, only then and maybe never again.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>He is struck by lighting and the pain in his stomach doubles, his hair is thinning and he is forced to cut the longer strands. He is alone in a warehouse with tears in his eyes, chugging water because he knows it will fill his stomach and potentially trick it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Barry is forced to sob when he accidently speeds over to grab a small pack of almonds and passes out from malnourishment. He is fast and he is smart, he knows he must eat to continue to run with the blue lightning streaks even if his mother's corpse will be lying at his feet as he does so.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He start’s small by ordering a pizza, the delivery guy doesn’t look surprised at his residence, maybe more so relieved that he isn’t getting murdered and is just dropping off a pizza to some homeless teen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The speedster settles in his second favorite chair, the box in his lap and he cannot bring himself to eat the first bite, not until he is sorting through heat resistant fabrics and sewing them together before he mindlessly takes a nip, and then another. He is on autopilot as he constructs his quick being’s outfit and reaches towards a now empty box, his stomach gurgling for more when it hasn't made a sound in years.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He brushes his teeth after so he’d deterred from ordering more, his lack of funds also helping stave off the thought of food on his tongue. He learns something new that night as well, his already raging metabolism is a monster that breaks down the food in his chest with an efficiency that doesn’t leave time for it to even hurt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A blessing until he realizes there is agony in the hunger he experiences after, more so than he’s experienced before, and he is glad his abode is not near any living souls because no one interrupts him as he sweats and screams until he’s seizing on the floor with drool pushing past his lips and no one is there to help him. It’s his pile of fabric scraps that save his head from crashing to the floor. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is the smell of burnt popcorn in his nose.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>It’s after his seizure he knows he must run head first into his battle with food, he is traumatized as he gouges in with lightning quick hands, shoveling food down his throat and barely chewing because if it is done quickly he can pretend he hasn’t eaten at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There are times he chokes and his reflection consistently comes back haunted, he’s looking for work because he needs the cash and he is lucky enough to be fast enough to steal the food they try throwing out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His mother still lies at his feet when he picks up a rotisserie chicken from the store, it’s almost enough to send him back, but he knows he cannot crash and burn at work tonight so he eats even when it’s salted with tears.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>He doesn’t know how Bruce Wayne-The Batman got in or that he knew his metabolism was high. Barry certainly didn’t ask for the man to order him a pizza, but he laughs and goes with it, exclaiming he’s a snackhole, not because he wants more food but to ward the other man off from potentially buying him more.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His tangent on brunch also stemmed from the idea of either annoying the man out of ever suggesting it, or giving Barry the courage to actually go out because he has yet to eat in public and does worry about doing it on his own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wouldn’t be his proudest moment, having a breakdown in front of Batman if things went south, but it was Batman, if he’d gone this far just to seem normal in front of him, he could probably suck it up for a brunch to keep his image. </span>
  <span>Batman was a terrifying motivator, and that’s why he figured there was a potential for it to work.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>“Ah Mr. Allen I prepared quite the feast if you’re feeling up to it,” Alfred informed the second Barry stepped in the mansion. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are the others here?” he is forced to ask with a cheery optimism he doesn’t actually feel. He doesn’t want to be rude or a terrible guest and not eat the food the man in front of him probably spent hours slaving away making it, but he doesn’t know if he’s ready to eat food that he knows is the closest thing to a traditional home cooked meal since his mother’s death.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No Sir, actually I’m afraid it is just you and I tonight. Master Wayne has been called out to a business meeting it was imperative he attend,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s fine!” he lies quickly to assure the man that he’s not opposed to his company, he really isn’t, Alfred has always been fairly nice, so nice he made him a feast because he figured he’d be hungry.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He follows Alfred to the kitchen, swallowing bile as he sees the trays of food on the counter, and he is more than sorry when he flees the second his eyes fill with tears and he imagines her watching him from behind the counter.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p>
  <span>He isn’t surprised when he gets home from work the next day and Bruce is back and again sitting in his second favorite chair. He can see by the slight movement of the man’s jaw he is about to speak, and Barry truly doesn’t have the time to wait for the words to hit the air so he spills.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t like to eat,” there’s a moment where the air is still, Bruce’s eyes a little wider than normal and his brow slightly furrowed, he’s waiting as if he expects Barry to say more, which isn’t a unvalid thing to assume either but for once Barry is silent.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Bruce switches the legs he has crossed, and swallows for a second, blinking as he gathers his bearings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And your metabolism makes it worse,” he fills in, and Barry nods taking his favorite seat, digging his fingers into the chair so he does not gesture frantically when he begins to speak.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I keep seeing her when I do,”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There is nothing but understanding in Bruce’s eyes, but his shoulders go tense and Barry is no fool, he knows why.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They’re alike in a lot of the same ways, Bruce knows what it is like to lose his parents young, and was very fortunate to have Alfred at his side to keep him somewhat normal and healthy enough until he broke off to gallivant as a bat. </span>
  <span>Barry on the other hand had none of that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> His suggestion may seem out of place, but he now understands their interactions, understands Barry, vows to protect him and he can see Barry startle at the promise in his eyes too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let’s get brunch,”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Snap: allisonw1122<br/>Tumblr/twitter: webtrinsic1122<br/>Insta:Webtrinsic</p></blockquote></div></div>
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